Shadows and Decay
by Aikala
Summary: There is a monster in New York.  He feeds on the weak and the lost.  Playing on there fears he hunts the forgotten corners of the city, looking for something he can really sink his teeth into.  In the sewers he'll find them, Men unlike any others.
1. Chapter 1

Bold is chapter titles, Italics are thoughts, and the rest as they say is history. Please read and review, its essential to my confidence as this is my first fan fic.

* * *

**In this Instant**

She stood beneath the shower, leaning negligently against the wall. How long she had been there like that she couldn't tell you. But one thing was certain, she wasn't happy.

You could tell without looking at her body language or the dark, almost murderous, expression. Hell you could tell just by standing at the end of the dingy hallway and listening to the music that churned through the heavy air.

"_The window has closed. I'm sorry Blake, there's no going back"_

She closed her eyes as his words floated about on the steam. She made the scolding water hotter, trying to distract herself from the memories that were swimming in her head.

"_I'd rather be stuck in the 20__th__ century with memories of you then go forever without your existence at all!"_

"Well you got your wish you stupid girl. Now there is no going back. You are stuck here…alone. *sigh* "

Slowly she allowed her body to slip down the wall towards the floor of the shower. And kneeling beneath the onslaught of burning water she cried every damn tear she had been collecting the past few years.

* * *

The greenish light from his computer screen flooded his face. Numbers and letters scrolling past as he continued to tap at the keyboard. Running the equations again and again.

"How could I have been so damn wrong?"

The dark rings under his eyes were matched only by his tense posture. His entire body ached from days spent before the consoles. No sleep, little food and absolutely no natural light had taken its toll both physically and mentally.

"It should…I could of…DAMN IT!"

The splintering crash of a thrown keyboard brought Celia into the room, along with a blinding slash of sunlight.

"Fuck Celia!"

"Sorry, but I heard a crash. What the hell happened?"

"Nothing"

Celia followed his gaze to the mangled keyboard.

"Oh, nothing. Look you either need to get some sleep or eat something but either way you need to leave this room before you start throwing the monitors around."

"I can't. I need…it's my fault Celia. I have to find another window."

"*sigh* It's not your fault, they told us that we had a limited window. We just gotta move on is all."

"That's easy for you to say. You have nothing to go back to. Me, I'm never gonna see my little girl again if I can't find another window. I have to get back, I promised her."

"_Daddy if you go you got to come back, you promise you'll come back? I won't say good bye if you don't promise!"_

"I'm coming baby. Daddy's coming."

* * *

Blake tried to focus on the map before her. But the little lines kept moving making it damn near impossible to work anything out. Not that it mattered any more. She was stuck in the 20th century, in a dingy apartment in lower Manhattan, with no way of ever getting home. So what was the point in doing what they had come all this way to do.

"You find it yet?"

"No"

It had been 2 weeks since the window had closed. Celia was little changed by the fact. She had spent years alone and just didn't care if she never went back. Ryan had barely left his beloved computers. Leaving the apartment just once to get a new keyboard. Blake spent her days sleeping and her nights looking for a fight and when she couldn't leave she attempted to burst her ear drums.

"Jesus Blake."

"Okay even if we do, by some miracle, find them, what then? Do we tell them that we are time travelers that have come back to save them from a sociopath that is determined to turn them into humans…or worse? Or do we just tail them in the hopes that eventually Jacob will show his hideous face so that we can pound his ugly mug into tiny little bits? And if all that happens and we save the future and the turtles and all that bullshit are we just meant to continue living in the 20th century and forget everything we left behind?"

Celia shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Ryan just sunk a little bit further into his depression and glanced eagerly and hopelessly towards the closed door to the computers. It had been two weeks and no one had wanted to ask these questions.

"You volunteered for this Blake. You came as willingly as the rest of us." She held up her hand stemming the tide of abuse Blake looked ready to let spill. "You knew the risks. And yes we have been here longer then expected and yes we have yet to locate either the turtles or Jacob. But you know that we have a job to do. Now we can sit in front of computers and spend the rest of forever trying to do the impossible or get into fights in the meager hope that we'll find someone who can actually hurt us or we can do what we came back here to do. I don't know about you two but I take my job very seriously and right now at this moment in my life Jacob is my job. And I will spend the rest of my life hunting him if I have too and I will live out the rest of my days in old New York if I must. We all knew the risks of jumping."

A hellish silence descended on the small group. They knew she was right but it all felt so wrong. Each one caught up in their memories of that last good bye…


	2. Chapter 2

So it's been awhile since I updated, I got a little stuck with my story. But here we go again. This chapter is mostly talking, just bare with me, it gets good real soon. Bold is chapter titles and for the characters each section applies to. Read, enjoy and review.

* * *

**Painful Memories**

**Ryan**

"Baby you know how I said that I might have to go away again for a little while?"

"Yeah"

"Well Daddy's bosses need me to go on a little trip to help some people."

"Why?"

"Coz that's what Daddy does remember? He helps people."

"I know. But why do YOU have to go?"

"Coz if I go this one last time I won't ever have to go away again."

"Oh. Do you really have to go?"

"Yes, I really have to go"

"But I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here with me and Tiffany!"

"Don't cry honey. I know you want me to stay. I want to stay here with you and Tiffany too. But I have to go, I have to."

"If you go Daddy you have to come back."

"I'll come back"

"Daddy if you go you got to come back, you promise you'll come back? I won't say good bye if you don't promise!"

"I promise honey, I'll come back. I promise I will."

"It's time to go sir"

"Just 5 more minutes"

* * *

**Celia**

"I got some good news and some bad news for ya."

"Okay, hit me with the good news then the bad news."

"You sure?"

"Mmm…Yeah"

"Well you are the single best lay I have ever had."

"That's not news."

"What?! You telling me you've gone down on all the chicks I've had?!"

"No. I know I'm just the single most amazing woman on the planet. I wonder what those fat cats down at the institute would say if they knew you was a lesbian?"

"Hmm…they'd kick me off the team, you know that."

"So…what's the bad news?"

"Those fat cats down at the institute…"

"Yeah"

"They want me to jump again"

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Celia I thought you said never again? That next time they asked you would say no? That you would rather they fire you then jump again?"

"I know all that Angela and I'm sorry that I'm putting you through this. I wish I could tell you why I have to do this, coz maybe then you would understand but…"

"You can't"

"I'm sorry."

"I won't wait for you"

"I know"

"I love you"

* * *

**Blake**

"Hey"

"…"

"My aren't we despondent today"

"What's that meant to mean?"

"Nothing, just making an observation…so?"

"So what?"

"Gods above, so why the hell are you so damn despondent?"

"They want me to jump."

"Where to?"

"20th century. Limited window. High risk. Low return rate. Optimal chance of death."

"Shit"

"Yeah"

"You gonna do it?"

"Already said I would"

"WHAT?!"

"I…already…said… d"

"What? Why?"

"It's important. I can't tell you any details but it's important that we go back. It's important that this gets done."

"And you have to be the one to do it?"

"Jeez, you sound like my mum"

"That's coz your mums right. You don't have to be the one to go back! You don't have to do this!"

"Yes I do"

"But Blake..."

"Look I have to do this. I have to go back to the 20th century. But I won't be going alone, so my chances of getting back are a lot higher and how often do you think one of them big wigs is gonna come down and ask me, ME, to go on a last minute jump like this?"

"Does it really matter?! Jesus Blake, you can't just leave now. It isn't fair on your mum. It isn't fair on any of us!"

"Look I have to go, okay"

"NO it's not bloody okay. It will never be okay Blake. FUCK!"

"I just have to do this! Can't you, of all people, understand that?!"

"No, I can't! I couldn't possibly understand what would compel you to risk getting stuck in the 20th century?!"

"…I…"

"Well?"

"Fuck you Alex!"

"Don't avoid the goddamn question Blake!"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want to know what the hell makes you risk getting stuck in the 20th century?! I want to know what could compel you to do something so fucking stupid?!"

"Because I'd rather be stuck in the 20th century with memories of you then go forever without your existence at all!"

"What?!"

"I...I'd rather be stuck in the 20th century with memories of you then go forever without your existence at all."


	3. Chapter 3

Bold is for chapter titles, Italics are memories. Read, review, and enjoy.

* * *

**Meet the Sociopath**

The quiet rain pelted his window as he gazed earnestly at the New York skyline. So different to the one he had grown up with, yet it felt as familiar as if it had been there before him all along. He didn't even have to look into the greenish glow of the computer screen to know that the window had closed. He allowed himself the smallest of smirks. Now he had all the time in the world to complete his plans.

The slight rustle of sheets reminded him that he was not alone. Without turning he could feel the girl stirring in her sleep; dreaming perhaps. He took a moment to question what she could possibly have to dream about.

Frustrated with the distraction he returned to the computer, running the simulation again. There had to be something he was missing. Each time he ran it, the subject would die. Too much pain, too many painkillers, loss of blood, too much medication. He just couldn't see why it wasn't working.

"You're trying to do too much at once"

The whisper echoed out of the shadows behind him. It didn't startle him. This whisper had been with him a long time. It had led him to his most shocking discoveries and had encouraged the current line of thinking. The line of thinking that had led to underground experiments and an illegal jump.

"Take it in steps. Don't rush. You will have all the time needed to complete it, one turtle at a time."

The whisper was right, it was always right. Sometimes he wondered where the voice had come from or if it was even real, but then he would remember that the voice had always been there and that it had never been wrong and all those doubts would just melt away.

"Okay, if I take it slower than the risks are decreased. And given time to heal the next step will be easier because the subject will be stronger. Yes, slower."

He ran the simulation again with the new idea. He turned his back on the computer as it went through the numbers again.

The street light spilled in through the window casting the rains shadow across the room. The translucent shadows dripped across the computer, trickled down his chest and looked like tears upon the sleeping girls face.

* * *

_The pale nerd stood before the two-way glass. His quiet reflection watched patiently as the scene played out in the room beyond. Agitated figures moved rapidly around the enclosed space. Even without sound it was easy to tell their anger was fuelled by confusion, confusion brought about from waking in an unknown place with no knowledge of how long they had been there._

_With precise movements his hands took notes without his prompting. Already the weak were emerging. There in the corner, the huddled mess that could easily be mistaken as a piece of furniture. Along the wall, the non-stop panicked banging in the hopes of alerting someone. The weeping wretch on the couch. The one yet to move from the spot where it awoke. The weak were quickly emerging._

* * *

_The smell of blood permeated the stale air. The pale skin made whiter by the exposed redness of the internal organs. Liquid dripped from the over head lights and the tips of his fingers. The rhythmic echo mixing with the lingering trace of its screaming. The gapping jagged wound on its neck having all but resulted in decapitation._

_Eagerly he ripped the goggles from his eyes and plunged his hands into the cavity. They had never allowed this kind of experiment at the institute._

_With well-trained fingers he searched for the missing piece. There had to be no trace of the blade. They could track him with that. They were already looking for the "Butcher". Looking in all the wrong places. But the missing bit of blade could change all that._

_He watched the face of his victim as his questing fingers dug deeper._

_"You should be pleased you know, you have done the world a great service this day, and when those stuffy old bastards finally realise the genius of my work your name shall be remembered. Oh by the way what is your name? We never were introduced. Ah"_

_He held the slither of metal up to the diminished light._

_"I really have to get better knives; I won't all ways have time to go fishing around if they all break like this."_

* * *

The computer beeped, the girl stirred and Jacob watched as the old New York cried. His thoughts jumping between memories, each more vivid then the last.

The bitter taste of blood as he bit his own lip, the feel of the a sharpened blade sinking into flesh like a hot knife through butter, the hollow echo of footsteps on concrete, that spectacular red on pale white flesh, the crisp smell of antiseptic as it burns the nostrils and cleans the floors almost but not quite getting the blood stains out of the concrete.

The girl murmured in her sleep, unintelligible words that sent his memories scattering. The computer beeped urgently, stumbling over part of his equation. Brow furrowed Jacob glared at the sleeping girl before turning to the computer.


End file.
